Cosmology: The Seven States of Magic

I have this pet cosmology that I’ve been working on for a while now, which fuels the magic system I’ve been developing. It draws ideas from a lot of sources (like any good idea), though the strongest influences have been Dungeons & Dragons (second, third, and fourth edition), Magic the Gathering, and Mage the Ascension, Changeling the Dreaming, and Wraith the Oblivion. Other games, movies, and TV shows have influenced the development, but these are the main sources from which I’ve drawn concepts and ideas.

The Seven States, as I refer to them, are like the 5 colors of magic from Magic, and at the same time, they aren’t. They’re like the various schools of magic from Dungeons & Dragons, but they’re more than “schools.” They’re like the “power sources” from D&D Fourth Edition, but they provide more of an origin story than an ice cream flavor. They’re almost like different game settings and systems, like Wraith and Changeling, and they deal in fundamental magic, like Mage, but they’re less ephemeral and more cooperative.

The Seven States Cosmology is designed to make a place for anything that might exist in real life or in a fantasy story, and it exists to try and put mortals on the same playing field as gods and monsters. I realize this is hardly an original idea, and it’s difficult to explain how it’s different from other cosmologies or other game settings. I’ll discuss certain points of the system in other entries, and see if I can nail down exactly what makes it different — and what makes it the same. :P